TaskStream Submissions of Course Signature Assignments Now Required!

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TaskStream

For National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation and program evaluation purposes, the Special Education program has identified a signature assignment (performance based assessment artifact) for each EDSE course. A signature assignment is a specific assignment, presentation or project that best demonstrates one or more of the ten Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standard(s) connected to each course.

For university accreditation purposes, as well as student portfolio evaluation, student assignments are to be evaluated based on a faculty developed rubric associated with the CEC standard(s) addressed by each assignment.

Each designated assignment must be submitted in two different formats. In addition to submitting a “paper” copy of the assignment to the course instructor on the date it is due, as indicated by the course instructor, an electronic version of the signature assignment MUST be submitted to TaskStream, a web based program (https://www.taskstream.com/pub/), either on the day the assignment is due or within one week after the graded assignment is returned to the student.

Note: Every student enrolled in any EDSE course as of the Fall 2007 semester is required to submit their assignments to TaskStream (regardless of whether the course is an elective or part of an undergraduate minor).

The electronic submission of the signature assignments to TaskStream serves two purposes. First, it provides a platform for students to build an electronic portfolio for EDSE 791 (Midpoint Portfolio) and EDSE 792 (Final Portfolio). Second, instructors evaluate each student’s electronic signature assignment in connection with the NCATE performance based outcomes. The NCATE outcomes incorporate the CEC standards for special education teachers.

After each student submits their signature assignments to TaskStream, instructional faculty will use a 3 point rubric, separate from their individual grading rubrics (viewable on TaskStream), to jury individual electronic submissions.

Please Note

Along with their Winter ’08 upgrade in mid February, TaskStream will end support for Internet Explorer 5.x, AOL below version 9, and ALL versions of Netscape.

In addition, browser support for Macs will no longer include any version of Internet Explorer, Netscape or AOL.

PC users can access TaskStream with the following supported browsers:

Internet Explorer 6.0 and above
AOL 9.0 and above
Firefox 1.5 and above

Mac OS X users can access TaskStream with the following supported browsers:

Firefox 1.5 and above
Safari 1.3 and above

If you are a Mac OS 9 user we recommend that you upgrade to Mac OS X in order to use one of the supported browsers. If upgrading your operating system is not possible, please contact Mentoring Services at 1-800-311-5656 or help@taskstream.com for additional assistance.

Instructions for Students:

Step 1 of 3) Creating your account (Username & Password): TaskStream Log-in for GMU Students

Step 1a) If Step 1 yields a response from TaskStream that a student does not exist in the TS system, please notify Emily Gibson at egibson5@gmu.edu. She will provide you with an alternate set of instructions.

Step 2 of 3) Self-enrollment into the Special Education Portfolio in TaskStream (where students go in TaskStream to submit work): Student Self Enrollment Instructions

Step 2a) Please note: depending on your program status and when you began your coursework, you may already be enrolled in the Special Education portfolio. If you see the Portfolio when you log in, you can skip Step 2 and go on to Step 3.

Step 3 of 3) Submitting required artifacts and Artifact Entry Forms into the Special Education Portfolio in TaskStream: Quick Start Guide - Author

For reference: Signature Assignments and Artifact Entry Forms for Special Education Courses

Instructions for Faculty:

Step 1) Creating your new Faculty/Evaluator account in TaskStream, i.e., your login and password: TaskStream Key Code for GMU Faculty

Step 2) Notify Emily Gibson at egibson5@gmu.edu once you have successfully logged into TaskStream using your new login and password. She will then enroll you as an Evaluator into the Special Education Portfolio in TaskStream. This will give you access to your student's submitted work.

Step 3) Once Emily Gibson has enrolled you as an Evaluator into the Special Education Portfolio, follow the instructions on how to access and evaluate work that has been submitted to you: Quick Start Guide - Evaluator

Special Education Syllabus Wording

The signature assignment required for this course must be submitted electronically to Mason’s NCATE management system, TaskStream: (https://www.taskstream.com).
Note: Every student registered for any EDSE course as of the Fall 2007 semester is required to begin submitting signature assignments to TaskStream (regardless of whether a course is an elective or part of an undergraduate minor). TaskStream information is available at http://gse.gmu.edu/programs/sped/. Failure to submit the assignment to TaskStream may result in reporting the course grade as Incomplete (IN).